History

History

In the late 1970s, the cities of Alexander City, Dothan, Fairhope, Foley, LaFayette, Lanett, Luverne, Opelika, Piedmont, Sylacauga, Troy, and Tuskegee explored joining together to stabilize wholesale power supply costs and meet other mutual needs.

In 1981, their efforts resulted in passage of the legislation that enabled the cities to jointly create AMEA as a public corporation to provide dependable, economical electric power and other services for the Member cities.

On Sept. 1, 1986, AMEA began providing affordable, reliable power to its Members for power requirements exceeding their Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA) allotments and was, on that date, designated as the Members’ agent with SEPA.

Sylacauga Plant

With the opening of our Sylacauga plant in 2004, AMEA became the first organization in Alabama in over 80 years to build a municipally-owned power generation facility. Its two combustion turbines are fueled by natural gas and can generate a 95 thousand-kilowatt capacity.

In 2006, AMEA signed a power supply agreement with Alabama Power, allowing our utility Members to develop competitive rate structures for their customers.

Today, AMEA continues to provide reliable and economical electric power for public utilities in Alexander City, Dothan, Fairhope, Foley, LaFayette, Lanett, Luverne, Opelika, Piedmont, Sylacauga and Tuskegee – as well as these communities’ nearly 350,000 customers.